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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493091">run until the very last second</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human'>i_was_human</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lost in Translation (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Dangan Ronpa Fusion, Angst, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Memory Loss, No beta we die like danganronpa characters, Sad Ending, Suicide, aged-down characters, monokuma is as usual a little bitch, this took a 180 real quick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:00:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,286</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28493091</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>His name is Dongho.</p><p>This much, he knows for certain.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ahn Jaewon | Wyld &amp; Kang Dongho | D.Min &amp; Kim Daehyun &amp; Lee Minsoo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>run until the very last second</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His name is Dongho.</p><p>This much, he knows for certain.</p><p>His name is Dongho, and he's standing in the middle of an auditorium while a black-and-white bear rhapsodizes about murder and despair, and <em>something is missing in this picture</em>.</p><p>-X-</p><p>His name is Dongho, and the student handbook tells him little else.</p><p>He stares at it again - <em>Talent: ??? </em>- and closes his eyes, stuffing the small tablet back into his pocket.</p><p>There's not much else to say. Not when his "classmates" have talents like <em>chef </em>or <em>artist</em> or <em>leader</em>.</p><p>He doesn't know what he can do, and that makes him a threat.</p><p>(he doesn't know who he is, and that hinders his every step - everything viewed through the lens of necessity rather than desire. every second, every movement - he <em>does not know what he wants</em>, and this <em>plagues</em> him.)</p><p>After all, he could be an assassin. He could be an assassin, or a world leader, or a soldier of sorts. He could be <em>anyone</em>, and that, in the end, is his greatest strength.</p><p>(he could be anyone, and that is his greatest weakness. he could be tricked, could be fooled, and so he <em>lieslieslies</em>, tells everyone his talent is something banal like music production or chess or teaching, and he <em>lies</em>.)</p><p>It varies. The truth becomes buried under layers and layers of lies, and whoever he is (was) must've been an expert liar, because <em>fuck </em>if deception isn't second nature to him.</p><p>Still.</p><p>He has someone on the outside, right? He must.</p><p>He <em>must</em>, even if he can't remember who they are. He <em>must</em>, because his heart yearns for something that isn't there, <em>must</em>, because every night he dreams about voices and faces he can never remember when he's awake, and every morning he wakes up <em>missing someone</em>.</p><p>It's this that keeps him going, this that drives him forwards to <em>desperately, desperately </em>live.</p><p>There is someone he's missing.</p><p>There is someone he's missing, and this is someone he <em>has to get back to</em>.</p><p>-X-</p><p>Monokuma distributes the motive videos at random.</p><p>This, more than anything, is what <em>aches</em>.</p><p>Because Dongho- that motive video must have <em>something</em>. Some clue as to who he's searching for, some clue as to who he is, some clue as to <em>anything</em>.</p><p>It has some clue, and that's being kept from him.</p><p>(it scares him sometimes. the prospect of murder. but he is <em>missing something</em>, and that empty space is wide and gaping and <em>so, so dangerous</em>.)</p><p>Person after person falls, more and more portraits covered in bright pink "X"s, and Dongho roots through their things, each and every time hoping he'll find the tablet that contains his identity. </p><p>There has to be something.</p><p>There has to be- has to be <em>something</em>, has to be <em>someone </em>that pushed him. There has to have been <em>someone</em>.</p><p>Fuck, he'd even take just knowing his <em>talent </em>at this point. If nothing else, that would do. </p><p>Maybe it'd be a clue. Maybe it'd jog his memory.</p><p>Maybe it would just-</p><p>maybe it would do <em>something</em>.</p><p>But more and more bodies pile up, smears of pink staining the halls and classrooms, and his motive video still remains horribly, stubbornly lost.</p><p>Surely they're not keeping it from him on purpose. </p><p>Surely they're not keeping it from him for their own sakes. Surely- surely he wasn't some kind of murderer or assassin. He <em>knows </em>that's not the case - if not with his memories, then with the deep, deep feeling in his core.</p><p>So why?</p><p>Why could they be keeping it from him?</p><p>-X-</p><p>"Puhuhuhu~! You're really not wondering what they've been keeping from you?"</p><p>The Ultimate Luck turns, eyes wide, and she only has time to open her mouth before Monokuma lays the truth bare.</p><p>"She's known who you really are the <em>entire time</em>~!"</p><p>Dongho's world tilts on its axis.</p><p>"Monokuma!" the Ultimate Scientist cries, but it's too late for his words to have any meaning.</p><p>Dongho digs his nails into his palms, a red-hot wave of barely-tempered <em>rage</em> washing over him, and he raises his head, unsure whether his unique cocktail of <em>angerfeargriefbetrayal </em>is visible on his face but hoping to <em>god </em>that it is.</p><p>"You kept it from me?"</p><p>The Ultimate Luck takes a step back, and <em>oh</em>, Dongho thinks, she's not very lucky now, is she? "Dongho-kun, please-"</p><p>"You <em>lied to me</em>."</p><p>His hands tremble at his sides, and the Ultimate Luck takes another step back, fear written over her face. "Dongho-"</p><p>He's quicker.</p><p>His sneakers slam against the gym's floor as he smashes the Ultimate Luck's face against the wall, and screams rip through the air.</p><p>There's blood all over his hands, blood coating her face and the collar of her uniform, but all Dongho can think is that <em>she knew and she kept it from him</em>.</p><p>She knew.</p><p>She knew this entire time.</p><p>Two people grab his shoulders and haul him back, and he swipes at his chin with one blood-covered hand, nails digging into his palms.</p><p>"Puhuhuhu~!" Monokuma giggles, red eye glinting ominously. "Now it's getting interesting!"</p><p>-X-</p><p>They tie him up in his room with only his motive video for company.</p><p>That's a mercy, he supposes.</p><p>He stares at the tablet for a moment as it loads up, the image of Monokuma's trademark red eye bright on the screen, and he pulls it into his lap just as it starts, tinny music he barely recognizes blasting through the speakers.</p><p>
  <em>"Motive Video for Kang Dongho - Ultimate Idol!"</em>
</p><p>What?</p><p>A video pops up on the screen, and Dongho can only stare, helpless, as him and three other boys drop into a bow, all four of them wearing matching stage outfits.</p><p>
  <em>"Let's get crazy! Hello, we are MAYHEM!"</em>
</p><p>The video switches to one of the other three boys on the couch, and the shortest one sighs, leaning over to poke the red-haired one's side.</p><p>
  <em>"Ah- it's recording! Uh, hi, hyung. They told us to make a video to send to you-"</em>
</p><p><em>"So of course we're making one," </em>the shortest one states. <em>"Look, I'm glad you're doing the 'honorable' thing as the oldest, but seriously, don't do the dumbass thing and kill someone. Seriously."</em></p><p><em>"Please?" </em>the tallest one begs, and the red-haired one nods in agreement.</p><p><em>"I know they're saying it'll make you the winner," </em>the shortest one continues, <em>"and I know it'll absolve our debt. I know that. Just... please don't, hyung. For our sakes and for yours."</em></p><p><em>"Kang Dongho of struggling idol group MAYHEM," </em>Monokuma cuts in, and Dongho can simply watch, horrified, as newspaper clippings and headlines flash over the screen. <em>"Willing to do whatever it took to get his groupmates out from under their CEO's thumb... puhuhuhu~! How gallant! What a shame it would be if he happened to lose..."</em></p><p>The screen cuts to black, and the tablet slips from his numb fingers, falling to the tile with a soft <em>clack</em>.</p><p>He has people waiting for him. </p><p>People counting on him.</p><p>He has people waiting for him, and he's <em>so, so </em>close to the end. </p><p>He could just... try to last it out.</p><p>He could.</p><p>Or he could take proactive action.</p><p>-X-</p><p>
  <em>"Puhuhu~! A body has been discovered!"</em>
</p><p>Minsoo stares at the body on-screen in horror, rendered mute by the sight before him.</p><p>Dongho.</p><p>It's Dongho lying there, pink blood pooling underneath him and dark hair covering his eyes.</p><p>It's Dongho lying there, and Minsoo <em>can't breathe</em>.</p><p>Dongho <em>promised </em>he'd come back. Minsoo remembers that more than anything.</p><p>He <em>promised </em>he'd come back, and now-</p><p>His phone slips from his hands as he covers his mouth, and he curls in on himself, broken sobs tearing their way from his lungs. </p><p>Dongho's dead.</p><p>Dongho's dead, and there's nothing Minsoo can do about it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>goddamn this fic took a 180 real quick</p><p>fic title from exo-m's run</p><p>leave a comment if you enjoyed? :D</p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/i_was_human_">twit</a> | <a href="https://discord.gg/CNunB74">lit fic discord!</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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